A Dream
by PrincipessaBel
Summary: "Tell me your story." She looked up in surprise, then smiled for the second time. "Tell me your story, too." He shook his head. "Just tell me yours and why you're here." Nico never wanted this to happen. All he need to do is to sacrifice himself in order to bring back Percy in life. But this dead girl needed help. One-Shot.


**A Dream**

**PrincipessaBel**

**One-Shot**

* * *

_Of all the places I can land on, why here? Why here, with this lost girl? How come Father didn't see her here? _I sighed to myself, I have to fix this. Staring at the ghost girl, I ask. "Who are you?"

She blinked. "Who are _you_?"

I shook my head, "You don't need to know."

She nodded. "Then, you don't need to know mine."

_Is she going to be this hard?_

I tried again. "Why are you here?"

She shook her head, shrugging. "Why am I here?"

"You're dead." I stated - she must've known that by now. Every dead ghost always remembers their cause.

"You're dead, too."

"I'm not."

She looked down. A few a few seconds, she spoke again. "Who are you?"

I sighed. I have to keep calm. Father will not tolerate me if I ever speak to him in an irritated tone. "Nico." I answered her.

She smiled, her pale ghostly face glowing in the dim lights of the underworld. "Princess." **A wonderful name.**

"How did you die?" I asked. Hoping to know her before I end up like her.

"How did you die?" She asked.

"Are you going to keep retorting back my questions?" I blurted out due to ADHD. _Calm, Nico. You don't need a ghost to ruin your schedule._

The ghost looked guilty, "No. I wanted you to laugh." She said in a sad voice. I_s she serious? __She can't be__. She must now that I'm Hades' son. Probably wanting to be alive again. These ghosts never have something good to ask for me._

"What." I demanded.

"What?" She replied.

I sighed, "It's not funny. Go away." Turning my back from her, I started walking.

She ran towards me, her face worried. "This isn't funny. Don't go away."

"Tch. I've got important business to attend to." _Yes, more important than having you beg for life. _

"Don't leave me." She said, clutching my arm. Her hands passed my arm and she stumbled back in surprise. "Y-You're not dead."

"Leave me be." I glared at her._ Is that so much to ask? Why does she act so naturally that I wanted to help her?_

She sobbed in despair. "Don't leave me."

Grunting, I turned to her, "Seriously? How old are you?" **It doesn't matter anyway.**

"Fourteen." She answered in defeat. _Why is she so good in this? Why am I so tempted to help her?_

"Can't you take care of yourself? I can't do that for you." **If only you're not dead and we met in a different situation.**

"Can't." She said, looking up at me with pleading eyes.

"You're not serious." I said to myself, reminding myself that her act is staged.

"I _am _serious."

I guess I can at least bring her to the Fields of Asphodel - or if she want to be judged, in the Fields of Judgment. But to be sure, I asked her. "Where do you have to go?"

"Where do I have to go?" She frowned.

I sighed in her response. _Doesn't she know that she's being rude? _"Stop mimicking me."

"I'll stop." She looked down again. **Don't feel guilty.**

I nodded, "Now, let me repeat this. Where do you have to go?"

"I don't know." She sobbed again.

If she doesn't know where she's going, maybe I can just judge her on my own. Minos' pals don't mind in having me as a judge for the souls, knowing what had happened to Minos years ago. "Tell me your story."

She looked up in surprise, then smiled for the second time. "Tell me your story, too."

I shook my head. "Just tell me yours and why you're here."

"Tell me why you're here, too." She said plainly.

I rubbed my temples; she's really giving me a hard time, right now. I pointed my hand at her, "Look, be cooperative here, alright. Once I leave you, we'll never meet again."

"Be cooperative, then." She nodded enthusiastically, "An eye for an eye. Once you leave me, we'll never meet again, you don't need to be embarrassed."

I inhaled then exhaled. "Deal. Tell me yours. Quick." Once she told me hers, I can judge her and send her to where she belongs, then I don't have to tell her my 'own story'.

"All I remember is that I'm always in a room. A white room - with things getting pumped into me, red liquid, white liquid, I don't know how many."

_Is she kidding? Don't tell me she's really not staging this up._

"I never go out much. I don't have friends. But once, a lady helped me sit up near a window. I see people like me, like you. They're playing in a field, with smiles and laughter. I wanted to join them." She said, a sad smile plastered in her face.

_I felt guilty. I'm supposed to ditch her but how? Seeing that she's really putting up her trust in me. I'm going to do the right thing here, don't I?_

"I asked the lady but she didn't let me. She said i_t's dangerous. That I can get hurt_."

With those last statements, I felt remorse. My tongue felt like dry sandpaper. I judged her too quickly. **She's like me after all.**

"Then, I woke up here. What's yours?"

"I have a friend here. He doesn't deserve to be here. And I'm going to exchange myself in order to let him live again."

"But. . That's not your story." **It's the only thing you need to know.**

"What?"

"That's your goal."

"I'm not getting anywhere with this, am I?" She shook her head. "Alright, I'm also fourteen. I am different. . . I'm not straight. This guy that I wanted to help, I _liked_ him."** More than like.** "He helped me have friends. But in the end, I betrayed them because I'm selfish." **Because I'm stupid. Dumb. Idiot.** "Now, he's here, and I have to let him live. To let him live, I have to exchange myself in his place."

She's frowning but nodding, "A trade."

"Pretty much."

"You don't deserve to be here." _Say that again. _**Please, I need reassurance. I need reasons.**

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you're alive. And I'm dead." She stated.

"You're not making any sense. But anyway, I suppose you're not at all bad, I'm bringing you to the Fields of Asphodel."

"You're good. _Too good_. I don't know why you call yourself selfish." **Because I am selfish.**

"Look, do you want to go in the Fields of Asphodel or not?" I said, losing patience. _Why am I waiting for her anyway?_

"Why? Why do I have to go there, when I can stay here?" **It doesn't work that way.**

The rising conflict is confusing me and I can't stop myself from yelling at her. "Then stay! I don't have time for you." I** don't have time for anything at all.**

"Why do you have to exchange places with him, when you can live?"

"Because. . . Its- Its complicated! You'd never understand."

"Then make me understand." **I hope I can.**

"It's not easy, why am I still talking to you anyway?"

She smiled. "Because you feel obligated. Because you're good."

I turned my back from her. "I'm leaving." **I'm not leaving.**

"Then leave." She said. That felt like a hundred arrows in my chest. _Why is a ghost making me feel this way? Is it because I see myself in her? Because I pity her for dying? I should be ashamed of myself then. I let Percy die because of my own stupidity. _

I sighed to myself, I can't leave her like this. "Come on."

"Why are you back?"

"It came from you. Because I felt obligated."

"Nico." She sobbed for the third time, finally letting herself cry.

"What?"

"I see you in me."** I see you in me, too.**

"Huh?"

"I see me in you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You always ask, but you don't feel." **I feel scared. I feel horrified. I feel terrified. And I wanted to stop it.**

"I feel numb. Everything about me's not always happy. It never was."

"Everything about me's not always happy, too."

"You. . ." **I'm sorry I'm a jerk. I'm sorry I'm impatient. I'm sorry I'm distant. I'm sorry I let Percy die. I'm sorry I'm alive.**

"Sometimes. . . You just have to feel things in order to find answers. You just have to feel yourself, in order to make the right choices. And you just have to trust yourself enough, in order to find your goal."

"How come you know?" _How come you know so many things in just staying in a room?_

"Because I experienced it the hard way. I always ask myself. _Why am I here? Who did this to me?_ I didn't feel myself_. I didn't make the right choices. And I ended up regretting it._ I didn't trust myself enough. _So I didn't find my goal_." Her words struck me hard. That's exactly what I am now. _Lost in this big tainted world._

_I don't need myself getting attached to something I'm never going to own, to something I'm never going to be with for a long time._ "Tch. I don't need advice from a ghost."

"Suit yourself. An eye for an eye, you helped me here. I think I want to help you with yourself." She said with a small smile. _That small smile that I can't return._ "Thank you, Nico. Even for a short time, I found a friend."_ I'm sorry. But I swear I'll set things right._

* * *

_A blinding light hit my eyes. "Princess, wake up." An unknown voice startled me._

"_What?" I hear myself answer in a hoarse voice. I open up my eyes slowly, seeing that I'm in a room -blood being pumped in my wrist._

_The nurse smiled at me, handling me tap water to drink. "The doctors had found you a right donor. Just in time, too! I think that if we didn't find you someone, you'd be in the heavens by next month."_

_I felt a smile crawl up to my lips. "Nico." I let myself say out loud._

_The nurse looked at me weirdly, "What is that?"_

_Tears flowed down my cheeks and I looked down, letting my hair hide my face. I mumbled to myself, knowing that he won't hear me anyway. "Thank you, Nico. . . but, you should've stayed alive."_

"_Who is that?" __My donor, is what I don't say._

_I remembered his merciful brown eyes. A pair of eyes that I will never forget. "A boy I met. . ."_

"_Oh, in a dream, eh? Well, I'm happy that your brain is functioning nicely. Once your new heart is transferred to you, you'd be as healthy as a new born baby."_

_I looked outside the window, seeing a black butterfly fluttered by the windowsill. "I'm going to live your life the way I always wanted to live mine. I'm not going to disappoint you." I said to him. _

_One day, I'll meet you again, Nico._


End file.
